“Roseanne” deserved to be cancelled, and it’s not a double-standard

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Much of the talk around the election seemed to argue that the reason Trump was elected was because poor white individuals felt unseen and threatened. And while there were many reasons Trump was elected, the fervor of these working-class white voters helped. It is a fervor that was, and continues to be, carefully cultivated. In short, this tactic of pitting working-class white people against working-class minorities is not new. It is a tried, true and frighteningly effective feat of fearmongering.

It seemed that the new season of “Roseanne” was a poster child for this cognitive dissonance. Trump was a champion of the white working class — despite inheriting much of his wealth and being part of elite New York society. The show claimed to stand as an objective critique of both the far left and the far right. Yet by having episodes like that in which Roseanne was convinced that her Muslim neighbors were building a bomb, which aired as the star herself was tweeting outlandish conspiracy theories, the show did not achieve this objectivity.

Unsurprisingly, the cancellation of “Roseanne” instigated claims that free speech was being censored by the network and “liberal agendas.” As expected, Trump tweeted about it — noting that Bob Iger, CEO of ABC’s parent company Disney, called Valerie Jarrett to apologize on behalf of the network. Trump’s ire was over the fact that he did not receive a similar apology for the “HORRIBLE statements made and said about (him) on ABC.”